


baby, just say yes

by TheQueenInTheNorth



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Misunderstandings, accidental proposal, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-07 08:26:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19081249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheQueenInTheNorth/pseuds/TheQueenInTheNorth
Summary: It all happened because Sinara tied her shoe, and Kasius didn't realise that's why she was down on one knee.





	baby, just say yes

Sinara walks along the shelves slowly, reading titles on spines, brushing her fingers across golden lettering, marveling at the well-preserved leather on ancient tomes.

Kasius, meanwhile, is off fetching some book he apparently absolutely must show her. There’s already a growing stack of books she must see on the nearby table.

She doesn’t realise her laces are undone until she almost trips. Scowling, she kneels down to retie them. She remains in her crouched position when a book on the lowest shelf catches her eye, oddly noticeable in how unnoticeable it is. It’s slim and simple, the title in plain letters informing her she’s apparently in the botany section now.

She puts the book back, just about to get to her feet again when Kasius rounds the corner and gasps.

“Yes!”he all but yells. And then, a little quieter,“Yes, absolutely, yes.”

“Uhm,”Sinara says, rather ineloquently. She has no idea what is happening. Or what Kasius thinks is happening.

Her confusion doesn’t seem to put him off; he simply chuckles.“Right, sorry. I’ll let you actually ask.”

She almost asks him what he’s on about, but his excitement gives her pause. She doesn’t want to ruin it; the return from exile has him more stressed than either of them expected.

So instead, she quickly takes stock of a situation. Battlefield trained as she is, it luckily doesn’t take very long.

She’s on one knee, in the library he’s described as his favourite part of the castle more than once, in the section he finds the most interesting, not a fortnight after her ennoblement made her a possible marriage prospect that would no longer cause scandal, or so he had joked at the time.

Unless it hadn’t been a joke.

She clears her throat, meeting Kasius’ expectant eyes. He’s stepped a little closer, his cheeks slightly flushed, his smile even more radiant when she reaches out to take his hand.

“Kasius,”she starts, then clears her throat again. She can’t tell him she was just tying her shoe, she simply can’t. It would crush him, the poor, romantic fool. And, well, he’s the heir now so has to get married eventually, anyway, and she never liked the idea of that being to someone else. She takes a deep breath and asks,“Will you marry me?”

“Yes,”he repeats, and she’s sure he’s actually welling up, but then he pulls her up and into his arms and she can’t tell anymore.“Of course I’ll marry you.”

“Thanks,”she says against his shoulder. Then, when she hears the ridiculousness in that response, she quickly opts for a joke,“I mean, why settle for viscountess when I can shoot for Queen Consort?”

“Why indeed,”he says, and kisses her.

Sinara wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him closer, only very slightly concerned with the fact that she will have to make sure to never, ever let him find out that she didn’t actually mean to propose.

 

The Emperor is less than pleased to find out his son decided to marry a commoner - technically a former commoner, though that distinction barely helps - but Kasius had predicted as much, of course, and told his grandmother and some friends before he told his father, effectively tying his hands on the matter with the news already spreading around the capitol.

Sinara enjoys the frozen smile he wears as he congratulates them; it is more of a grimace, really.

To her own surprise, she also rather enjoys the wedding preparations.

That is, admittedly, mostly down to Kasius delegating all food-tasting decisions to her while he takes care of everything else, just having her try on the occasional dress or letting her kick people off the seating chart for the head table if he can’t make up his mind on whether he should do it or not.

Still, as their wedding draws closer, she feels worse and worse about her accidental proposal. He’s so happy about it and keeps mentioning it; he’s somehow gotten more touchy-feely - which she thought should really have been impossible - and not telling him feels almost like a betrayal.

She wants to marry him, she’s admitted that to herself, at least. And that really is all that matters. Or so she tells herself rationally.

But Kasius is such a hopeless romantic that she just can’t shake the thought that she owes him the truth.

 

“What’s going on?”Kasius asks, two days before their wedding is set to be held, as Sinara leads him through the gardens.

“Just wait,”she says.

There’s a blanket set out by the lake, the one he spoke of so fondly in exile, the sun is about to set, candles - actual, real wax candles, the only ones Kasius acknowledges as ‘setting the mood’ - are dotted around, there’s champagne and a picnic basket that even includes the sickly sweet noosbry mousse that Sinara can’t stomach.

Kasius stares at it all in awe, then looks back at Sinara.“For me?”

“No, actually, I’m waiting for my lover.” Sinara rolls her eyes, torn between glad he likes it and worried it won’t be enough to make up for what she has to tell him.“Sit down.”

He does, taking her hand and kissing it as she follows suit.“Thank you, my love.”

“My pleasure,”she returns.

She doesn’t say more, not quite ready to ruin the mood.

They watch the sunset in silence, her head on his shoulder, his fingers playing with her hair, both of them sipping their champagne.

Then, finally, Sinara knows she has to either do it now or never, and never isn’t an option. She can’t start their marriage with a lie, as stupid as she thinks that is. Perhaps sentimentality is contagious. She’s been close enough to Kasius to catch it a number of ways, if that is the case.

“I have to tell you something,”she blurts out before she can wimp out of telling him.“I love you.”

“I love you, too,”he says, slightly bemused, and leans in for a kiss.

Se melts into it for longer than she should before pulling away.“That’s not the thing I’m trying to tell you.”

He cocks his head to the side, still smiling.“What, is there a lover about to show up, after all?”

“I was tying my shoe,”Sinara says.

Kasius blinks at her slowly.“Pardon? Is that some sort of metaphor for - well, I couldn’t guess what, to be frank.”

“In the library,”she clarifies.“I was tying my shoe. I wasn’t proposing.”

His smile crumbles, the mirth in his eyes replaced by hurt.

“But I want to,”Sinara says, grabbing his hand, afraid he might pull away. He doesn’t, so she shifts closer.“I want to marry you and I love you and you should have a real proposal. So this is that. The proposal.”

“Oh.”

It is the closest to speechless she has ever known him to be and it is unnerving. She lifts his hand to her mouth to press a kiss against the knuckle of his middle finger, just above the golden ring signifying their betrothal, its twin on her own hand.“Say something. Please?”

“I can’t,”Kasius says. His smile is returning full force.“You haven’t actually asked yet, dearest.”

“Oh, right.” She doesn’t have to clear her throat to get the words out this time.“Will you marry me?”

“Delighted to,”Kasius says and kisses her.


End file.
